More than £100 million a year would be snatched from the NHS in Bradford if a new funding formula is forced through, a study has warned.

Fears were raised earlier this month over a plan – proposed by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley – to increase spending on the growing elderly population, at the expense of deprived areas.

In a recent speech, Mr Lansley argued the poor were not the biggest burden on the NHS budget, saying: “Actually it’s elderly populations, who are not in substantial deprivation.”

Now academics at Durham University have warned the policy threatens to shift huge sums from Bradford and other poorer areas to the likes of Surrey, Bucking-hamshire and Oxfordshire.

Under its calculations, Bradford would lose £102.467 million or 12.1 per cent of its current annual funding if age was the only factor considered. That would be a loss of £197 per person.

Coun Mike Gibbons (Con, Ilkley), chairman of Bradford Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said he had not had the opportunity to study the findings. He said: “I would like to see the figures in much more detail and time to study the findings of the university, because information can be proven to be inaccurate when it comes to force. I wouldn’t want to speculate.”

Professor Clare Bambra, of the Wolfson Institute, said: “Government plans to allocate NHS resources by age only would disproportionately benefit areas of England that are the most healthy, most affluent – and most likely to vote Conservative.”

The department of health described the figures as “inaccurate”, saying: “There has never been any intention of allocating NHS resources according to age alone.” However, the spokesman acknowledged funding changes loomed.